Principled or Partisan? The Effect of Cancel Culture Framings on Support for Free Speech

• Author: James J. Fahey,Damon C. Roberts,Stephen M. Utych
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X221087601
• Published date: 01 January 2023
• Date: 01 January 2023

Article

AmericanPoliticsResearch

2023,Vol.51(1)69–75

©TheAuthor(s)2022

Articlereuseguidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI:10.1177/1532673X221087601

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PrincipledorPartisan?TheEffectofCancel

CultureFramingsonSupportforFreeSpeech

JamesJ.Fahey

1

,DamonC.Roberts

2

,andStephenM.Utych

3



Abstract

Politicalscientistshavelongbeeninterestedintheeffectsthatmediaframingshaveonsupportortoleranceforcontroversial

speech.Inrecentyears,theconceptofcancelculturehascomplicatedourunderstandingoffreespeech.Inparticular,the

modernRepublicanPartyunderDonaldTrumphasmade“fightingcancelculture”acornerstoneofitselectoralstrategy.We

expectthatwhenextremistgroupsinvokecancelcultureasareasonfortheirallegedcensorship,supportfortheirfreespeech

rightsamongRepublicansshouldincrease.Weuseanationallyrepresentativesurveyexperimenttoassesswhetherindividuals’

oppositiontocancelcultureisprincipledorcontingentontheideologicalidentityofthespeaker.Weshowthatframingfree

speechrestrictionsastheconsequenceofcancelculturedoesnotincreasesupportforfreespeechamongRepublicans.Further,

whenleft-winggroupsutilizethecancelcultureframing,Republicansbecomeevenlesssupportiveofthosegroups’freespeech

rights.

Keywords

cancelculture,freespeech,partisanmotivatedreasoning,surveyexperiment

Introduction

ThetermcancelculturehasbecomeubiquitousinAmerican

politics.OriginatingonBlackTwitter,asubcommunityof

TwitterusersdedicatedtoissuesaffectingtheAfrican-

Americancommunity,“cancelling”someonewasorigi-

nallyunderstoodasalast-ditcheffortdesignedtoholdin-

dividualsresponsibleforhatefulspeech(Clark,2020).Yetthe

termwasswiftlyco-optedbyconservativecommentators,

whofashionedtheterm“cancelculture”todescribewhatthey

perceivedastheincreasingcensoriousnessofAmerican

politicaldiscourse,whereright-wingindividualsareunfairly

punished(or“cancelled”)forexpressingunpopularopinions.

Suchoutragecallstomindsimilarmoralpanicsinthe1990s

surrounding“politicalcorrectness,”whereconservative

Americanssimilarlylambastedthe“overlysensitive”and

“self-serious”leftforseekingtopolicepotentiallyhurtful

speechagainstmarginalizedgroups.Inthismostrecentwave

ofmoraloutrage,Republicansacrossalllevelsofgovernment

havedecriedcancelcultureasresponsibleforeventsasdi-

verseinnatureandscaleasDonaldTrump’sinsurrection

relatedimpeachmenttrial,tothefiringofTheMandalorian

actressGinaCaranobyDisneyafterherpostingofanti-

Semitictweets.

Fightingthenebuloustermhastranscendedmererhe-

toricalstrategyandbecomeaninstitutionalcornerstoneofthe

RepublicanPartyunderDonaldTrump.Forinstance,the

2021editionoftheinfluentialConservativePoliticalAction

Conference(CPAC)focusedonthetheme“AmericaUn-

canceled,”featuringaspeechbyTrump’sformerprimary

opponentSenatorTedCruzbemoaningcancelculturefor

ruiningSaturdayNightLive.Republicanelitesincreasingly

signalthatcancelcultureisadangerousassaultonfree

speech,

1

andRepublicanshavereceivedthemessage:theyare

morelikelytoviewcancelcultureascensorship,mean-

spirited,andanattackonAmericansociety(Pew,2021).

Wearguethattheuseofthetermcancelculturebypolitical

elitesandpartsofthemediaisanexampleofframing:a

sociologicalprocesswhereinindividualsselectivelyem-

phasizecertainaspectsofasocialissueoveranotherinorder

toprivilegecertainunderstandingsoftheworld,andwhichis

criticalfortheformationofpublicopinion(Carter,2013;

ChongandDruckman2007).Likewise,cancelcultureframes

mayalarmconservativesbypotentiallyreducingacceptable

formsofspeech—andwhenthreatened,conservativesare

morelikelytoendorseobjectionableformsofspeech,in-

cludinghatespeech(Christiani,2021).Furthermore,we

1

UniversityofFlorida,Gainesville,FL,USA

2

UniversityofColoradoatBoulder,Boulder,CO,USA

3

BoiseStateUniversity,Boise,ID,USA

CorrespondingAuthor:

JamesJ.Fahey,DepartmentofPoliticalScience,UniversityofFlorida,

AndersonHall,1507W.UniversityAve,Gainesville,FL32611-7011,USA.

Email:jamesfahey@ufl.edu